Game, Set, Match
by Vanilla Vader
Summary: Tenten: a girl on the boys' tennis team. Shikamaru: a lazy genius. To stay on the team, she must raise her grades. He tutors her to avoid expulsion for truancy. Tenten finds herself dealing with rejection, state championships, an archnemesis, and heartbreak. Shikamaru can tutor her in Shakespeare, but can he give her a lesson in life? And in turn, will he receive a lesson in love?


Uh...hi, people. I know I'm not finished with my first story...but I received a request for a ShikaTen from jasmineflowr19876, and I had to write it...I couldn't resist...

Also...I'm sorry...but I just had to add Neji in this...I know I'm doing a Tenten-without-Neji pairing...but I'm a Neji fangirl and this might not go exactly the way I had originally intended...XD

Anyways...here it is. It's 3 months late, but here's my request fic for jasmineflowr19876. I hope you enjoy it!

Or...just please don't be _too_ disappointed after reading this. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Game, Set, Match

By Vanilla Vader

Chapter 1

_"HELL YEAH! Take that, you bouncy fiend!"_

_I panted and thrashed my sword at the atrocious monster before me. A giant, fire-breathing tennis ball with wings and fangs was terrorizing our school tennis court. It roared in rage as I lunged from the service line and kicked it back toward the net, raising my sword to slash it in half._

_"Let's end this!" I shouted charismatically. Just as I was about to slice it in half, my sword suddenly morphed into an ordinary tennis racket. I blinked. The evil tennis ball monster hissed menacingly._

_"Uh-oh..." I muttered under my breath. "Uh...You know...I could really use some back-up right about now..."_

_As if on cue, the rest of the Konoha High School Boys' Tennis Team suddenly dropped from the sky and landed in the tennis court like ninjas. I grinned, spinning my racket skillfully in one hand. "It's about time you guys showed up."_

_My back-up consisted of Naruto, Sai, Sasuke, Kiba, Lee, Choji, Shino, and Neji. Suddenly, Coach Guy burst through the ground with a green, rhinestone-studded racket. I grimaced. It matched the color of his spandex suit. Coach Guy beamed and pumped his fist into the air._

_"Alright team! With the power of YOUTH, let us-"_

_"Let's just serve," our other coach, Coach Kakashi, said cooly from the other side of the net. Guy nodded fervently. We all charged at the tennis ball dragon, our rackets soaring through the air at blinding speeds-_

"Tenten...Tenten?" a sharp voice called, snapping me out of my daydream. "Tenten, please answer the question."

My English literature teacher, Kurenai Yuhi, was at my desk, staring at me intently with burgundy-brown eyes. The rest of the students in class were also staring, some of them smirking and snickering as they waited for my response. I gulped.

"Uh...yeah...what...what was the question again?"

Ms. Yuhi sighed and put a hand on her hip. "In Act 2, Scene 2, otherwise known as the 'balcony scene,' why does Romeo compare Juliet to the sun? What is the symbolic significance behind this comparison?"

_I think hearing the question just made it more confusing...ummm...let's think...Romeo and Juliet is a...tragedy...so...Romeo must be heartbroken?_

"Uh..." I began. "Sunburn?"

Ms. Yuhi raised a brow. "Please elaborate?"

I inhaled to muster some courage. "Um...I guess...he's upset that they're breaking up...so he's saying she stings like sunburn...you know...redness, itching...causes aging and sun spots, you know...dangerous UV rays..."

The rest of the class started laughing uncontrollably. Ms. Yuhi shook her head.

"Tenten, please stay after class."

_Well...at least I have lunch after this..._

When the bell rang for dismissal, I waited for everyone to leave the classroom before slinging my bag over my shoulder and trudging to Ms. Yuhi's desk. She studied me closely with her auburn eyes.

"Tenten, did you even read the act?"

I bit my lip. "I...I read the first scene...I swear, I really did...but I was at tennis practice, and Kakashi made me do laps because Naruto poured gatorade all over Shino's backpa-"

"Actually...Tenten, I've been meaning to tell you this...but...I'm afraid you might not be able to play this year."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"You're failing. If you fail this fall semester, your grades will not meet the minimum requirements and you will not be allowed to play in the spring."

"That's...I...what? I'm only failing two...wait...three classes right now...I'm still passing the other five-"

"Tenten...that's...not good..."

I stared at the ground, too shocked to speak. Ms. Yuhi handed me a pink slip of paper.

"This is a pass to Principal Tsunade's office. She told me to make sure you go there during lunchtime."

I nodded solemnly. _So much for going to lunch..._

As I turned to walk out of the room, Ms. Yuhi spoke.

"Good luck, Tenten. I know you can do it."

* * *

I walked down the halls with heavy steps. Something told me I was in trouble. As soon as I reached the office entrance, a hand roughly grabbed my shoulder from behind. I was about to flip the offender over my head and onto the floor when I whipped around to see Naruto and Kiba. They were grinning like idiots.

"Hey, _Tennie_!" Naruto hollered. I stuck my tongue out at him and peeled his hand off my shoulder. Kiba laughed and tried to mess up my hair until I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't call me 'Tennie,'" I whined. "And what're you guys doing here?"

"Probably the same reason you're here," Kiba said, waving the familiar slip of pink paper I had just received from Ms. Yuhi. Naruto grinned and waved his pink paper as well. I laughed.

"I think you're right. Looks like we really are the three baddies of the tennis team."

Naruto made a weird gargling noise. "BADDIES UNITE! BELIEVE IT!"

We did our secret handshake. We were about to enter the office when another voice entered the hall.

"'Baddies?'" Sasuke asked, smirking. "More like 'losers.'"

Naruto growled. "Sasuke! What are you doing here?"

The smirk on Sasuke's face instantly vanished. His voice came out sounding reluctant and even quieter than usual. "I'm...I'm failing Beginning Child Development."

For a second, the rest of us just stared at him blankly. Without warning, we all burst into wild fits of laughter. Kiba doubled over from the convulsions while Naruto and I leaned on each other, laughing ourselves into stitches.

"Why? Did you steal candy from your flour sack?" Kiba managed to ask breathlessly. Sasuke turned red and I burst into more laughter.

"You're failing at..._child development_?" I asked. "Why would you even take that cla-"

"I needed an elective credit, okay?" he snapped.

"Looks like you're a baddie, too!" Naruto cheered, nudging him in the shoulder. Sasuke shoved him away and glared at us.

"Let's just get this over with," he grumbled. We all entered the principal's office.

* * *

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU BE SO CARELESS!"

Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, and I cowered in our chairs as Tsunade screamed furiously. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat when she narrowed her eyes at us from across the room at her desk.

"Dammit! It's the first week of school and you idiots are already failing! NARUTO YOU'RE FAILING ALL OF YOUR CLASSES!"

Naruto grinned nervously. "Ack...actually, Principal Tsunade, I'm not failing gym," he corrected. Tsunade slammed her fists against her desk violently, making us jolt in our chairs.

"Do you kids realize what this means?" she snarled. "This means you're all done. You've all been cut from this year's tennis team."

"WHAT!?" I shouted, eyes wide. "Come on, Tsunade! You can't do that!"

"Yeah! Without us, the varsity team's just Neji, Cho, Shino, Sai, and Bushy Brows! We're already short on players! You can't be serious!" Kiba barked.

Tsunade sighed.

"Fine," she mumbled. "I'm not serious."

We all cheered and high-fived each other, making her glare. I gulped and we quickly collected ourselves again.

"I'm going to give you four an opportunity," she began. She rose from her desk and walked to the glass display case at the side of the room. It was lined with our school's tennis trophies. "As you know...our school takes tennis very seriously. Konoha High's varsity tennis team has never failed to place second in the state. And this year...I think we might finally have a first place team. I know I'm going to regret this...but I've handpicked special tutors to help each of you raise your grades. If you can raise all of your failing grades to at least B's by the end of this semester...I'll let you play in the spring. Your tutoring sessions start today after school. Your designated tutor will contact you before then to arrange the time and place."

I blinked. I had been hoping she could just let us off the hook. I glanced at Naruto, who looked mortified.

"Principal Tsu...Tsunade," he croaked. "At least...at least **_B's_**? I can't even remember the last time I got one of those! In fact...I don't think I've ever-"

"Can it, Uzumaki," Tsunade snapped. "I should have cut you from junior varsity last year when you were a freshman! You had a D-average! But I was being _nice_...unfortunately, if you also fail this semester, I sure as hell will **NOT** be nice and I'll send you to summer school starting in April!"

"NOOOOOOO!" Naruto cried out in anguish. Sasuke snorted and Kiba chuckled. Tsunade frowned.

"And where's Sai? I asked them to send him here, too, you know."

Naruto made a raspberry-blowing sound. "He never shows up to school on time. But I'll bet he'll be here after lunch...sly bastard."

We nodded in agreement. Sai just operated in strange ways. I turned to Tsunade.

"So...who are our tutors?"

Tsunade smiled. "Actually, Tenten..._their_ tutors are people you know fairly well. Ask your friends at lunch."

I gave her an annoyed look. "Well, what about my tutor?"

"Yours...is a very special new student...so show him around a little. And be nice," she replied, a vague look on her face. I waited for her to further identify this "very special new student," but she just frowned at us. "What're you brats waiting for? Lecture's over, now get out of my office!"

* * *

I munched on my sandwich as we walked towards the cafetaria. Kiba glanced at his watch.

"We still have ten minutes left to eat," he said, shrugging. He and Naruto waved at me before heading off to their own table of sophomore boys. Sasuke just gave me a half-frown before following them. I rolled my eyes before making my way through the crowded lunchroom to where I usually sat. As I approached my usual table, I picked out my friends' voices from the commotion of cafetaria sounds around me.

"And she totally just does that to annoy me!" Ino ranted. She stopped briefly to take a sip of coffee. I took the fleeting moment of silence to clear my throat. They turned and noticed me as I sat down. Hinata smiled.

"Hi, Tenten," she greeted. "Why are you s-so late today?"

Sakura looked up from her textbook to acknowledge me. "Yeah, we missed you. I heard you got put on blast in Yuhi's lit class."

I nodded. "I...I don't get this whole Romeo and Juliet unit. Honestly, I think Romeo's just trying to get in Juliet's pants...or skirt...or petticoat...or whatever they wore back then in Italy..."

Sakura shook her head. "I think petticoats are unsuitable for that time and setting...they're more reminiscent of the Victorian Era in-"

Ino sighed. "No one cares, Billboard Brow. Hey, Tenten, guess what? Tsunade assigned us to tutor some of your tennis teammates."

My eyes widened and I coughed when I almost choked on the sandwich I was finishing. "You guys...she told me to ask you...but wait WHAT! YOU'RE THE TUTORS?!"

They stared at me like I was some kind of three-eyed alien with tentacles. Sakura scratched her head. "Ten, what are you talking about? You already knew?"

I did a face-palm. "I was late to lunch today because _I _was one of those lucky tennis teammates getting tutored."

They all looked shocked for barely a second, if that. Sakura winced.

"Well...I hate to say it, but that's actually not that surprising, Tenten. I mean...no offense, but your grades are kind of poor..."

Ino snorted. "Poor is an understatement. Hell, her grades are in poverty."

Hinata just stared down at the table and fidgeted with her fingers, but I figured she agreed with Sakura and Ino.

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. My grades suck. We all know that. But you guys know I can't raise them just like that. I have...issues."

Ino's eyes bugged out a bit as she sipped her coffee. "Yup...you've got issues galore. First of all, you're the only girl in our school who plays tennis."

"And what's wrong with that? Aren't sports supposed to help you do better in school?" I asked. Ino finished her coffee.

"It means you have to deal with social isolation and hostility. See, you play on the boys' tennis team...because our school doesn't have a girls' team. And that means you get to spend time with Sasuke, which automatically makes most of the female student body hate you. And you also spend time with Kakashi, which makes the rest of the female student body and some of the female teachers hate you."

I gave her an incredulous look. "Gee, thanks. That makes me feel great about myself."

Ino continued. "And you never have time to study because you have to take care of your blind and deaf grandma, work two part time jobs, deal with your awkward crush on Hinata's hot cousin-"

"Ino!" I hissed. She rolled her eyes.

"It's not like anyone's listening, Tenten. Chill."

I let out a huffy breath and eyed each of my friends closely. Sometimes, I couldn't help asking myself_ why _we were friends. Then, I would remember the answer.

_Because we're all weird._

I watched Hinata fidgeting, and Sakura reading, and Ino admiring herself in her compact.

Now, I hate to go into one of those unbearably annoying little stories every high school girl seems to have about her stereotypically obsolete life and friends, but unfortunately, I suddenly feel compelled to do just that.

I had known Hinata a few years longer than I had known Neji. Hinata and I had immediately been paired together on the first day of second grade because she was too shy and I was the weird girl with panda buns.

I had known Sakura even longer than that. She had tried to teach me how to read in kindergarten, but much to my dismay, the first book she wanted to read together was _Sense and Sensibility_ by Jane Austen. Nevertheless, we had somehow automatically become friends.

And Ino...until seventh grade, Ino had made fun of the rest of us. She used to be friends with Ayano Tanaka. Ayano was one of those inconceivably stereotypical girls who are oftened labeled as "popular" in romanticized movies and novels depicting the supposedly dramatic, yet highly superficial, lives of average teenagers. The term "popular" is commonly used, but I don't really understand why, because nobody really likes Ayano. Girls just pretend to like her because she's scary and boys seem to endure her because she's pretty.

Yes, Ino used to be Ayano's counterpart. Anyways, I'm not trying to be overly dramatic, but one fateful day, everything changed, and a series of extraordinary life-altering events changed our pointless adolescent alliances forever.

One day in seventh grade gym class, I was playing tennis on one court with Naruto, Lee, and Kiba. The rest of the girls were playing volleyball on the other court. During those days, Sasuke had just moved to our school district, and Ayano had decided to claim him for herself. Unfortunately, Ino also used to like him (purely for his looks, which I admit, aren't bad), and this led to what everyone now refers to as "the Cold War."

So after weeks of fighting the Cold War, Ayano decided to scheme with two other "popular" but significantly less popular girls, Sachiko and Hanako, to pummel a volleyball smack into Ino's head while she wasn't paying attention. I overheard this scheme when I took a break from tennis to go to the girls' bathroom. I guess they never noticed me in the stall; they were probably too busy applying lip gloss or whatever it was they were doing.

Of course, at first, I didn't care. Ino had always bullied me, so it never occured to me that I should help her. So I went back outside after they left the bathroom and decided to pretend I had heard nothing. But while I was playing tennis, I couldn't help noticing when they finally began to take action. Ino had turned away toward the bench to drink water. Ayano had forced her lackey, Hanako, a brainless and brawny 6-foot-tall girl, to spike a volleyball at the back of Ino's inattentive head...probably at around 80 mph.

In the corner of my eye, I watched as the ball was tossed in the air. Naruto was yelling something at me about covering the double alley, but I ignored him and let Kiba and Lee score a game point. Before I knew what I was doing, I had practically teleported to the other side of the courts and stopped the volleyball less than a foot from Ino's head using my tennis racket. Ino turned at the loud, angry smack from the impact, and I'll never forget the look in her eyes as she took everything in. Her gaze traveled from my racket, to me, to the other shocked seventh graders around us, and finally settled on Ayano and her lackeys glaring smugly at us from the other side of the net. And as her eyes absorbed the situation in its entirety, for the first time, I saw something in them that I had never imagined Ino was capable of feeling.

Hurt.

Ever since that moment, Ino and Ayano were no longer friends, and Ayano has gone out of her way to ruin my life.

Okay...so that's the end of my stupid schoolgirl story about how I met my friends. Back to the situation at hand.

"It's not like anyone's listening, Tenten. Chill."

I sighed. "But really, Ino? Let's try to keep my repressed feelings of awkwardness as secret as possible, okay?"

"Tenten, you're not doing a very good job of repressing your awkwardness...it's actually really obvious," Sakura pointed out. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Says the girl who carries emergency toilet paper in her handbag."

"Oh my god, Tenten, that was _one time_ during a trip to-"

"The point is...that I'm not that awkward!"

Hinata giggled. "You're not that awkward, Tenten. You're just-"

"A freak with a tennis racket."

We turned toward the sound of the new voice. I really didn't have to, because I already knew who it was. It had its own infamously obnoxious tone. Ayano was standing by our table, her smile putridly sweet. Hanako and Sachiko slouched behind her.

"What do you want?" I asked flatly.

"I just wanted to point out what a pathetic slut you are. You begged them to put you on the boys' tennis team because you're desperate, not because you're awkward."

I snorted. "Is that what you want to believe? I heard you begged them to put you on the cheerleading team. Let me guess...you just wanted an excuse to wear short skirts," I glanced over her attire. "Not that you need an excuse."

She looked like she wanted to slap me, but she forced herself to smile. "Don't make up lies about other people to make yourself feel better, Tenten. It just makes you look sad."

I was just about to accidentally forget about being in school and push her into the cafetaria trash can behind her, but Sakura laughed and closed her book, noticing the precarious gleam in my eyes.

"At least Tenten actually passed try-outs. Ayano, I heard you just bribed Anko into letting you join."

Ino smirked at this remark, because it was so true. For a moment, Ino and Ayano just stared at each other silently. Then, Ayano glared at me and stormed out of the lunchroom.

I smiled. "Okay then. Moving on with life..."

"Huh...I can't believe this _just_ occured to me," Sakura said. "But if none of us are your tutors, then who...?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know either. I asked Tsunade and she just said it was some new student. I guess I'll find out by the end of school today. Hey, who exactly are each of you tutoring, anyway?"

Sakura sighed sarcastically. "The one and only...Sasuke Uchiha."

I stifled a laugh. Sasuke was in for a shock.

Hinata blushed. "N-Naruto and Kiba."

This time, I giggled. We all knew Hinata had had a crush on Naruto since...well...since forever.

Ino opened her planner and read the name she had scribbled in the box for today's date.

"Some guy named 'Sai,'" she said. "Who is he? Never heard of him."

I nodded. "That's our team's dark horse. He moved to Konoha last year in like...the middle of March. His backhand is BEASTLY-"

Ino scoffed. "Some dark horse. I guess that would be an extremely _nice_ way to describe his grade in World History."

I snorted in amusement. _Poor Sai_, I thought. _Ino's so...expressive...and he's so...expressionless..._

Just then, the lunch bell rang and I waved goodbye. Unlike Hinata, Ino, Sakura, and the baddies, I was a junior, not a sophomore, so most of my classes were in the back of the school as opposed to the front. I cleaned up my lunch and went to attempt to pay attention in my psychology class.

* * *

I glared into empty space as Jiraiya lectured about Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory. He was blushing madly as he talked, and I half-expected his nose to start bleeding.

"Heh heh...and that's how libido affects personality traits. A person's unconscious drives and _desires_ fuel their motives. All the...instinctual _urges_...that humans experience...it's perfectly _natural_ to feel such _urges_ because it does NOT mean you're a...a PERVERT! Oh no...it's just a part of the human mind..."

I gritted my teeth. _Perv..._

Suddenly, my phone started vibrating in my bag, so I inconspicuously fished it out. I barely had to use any stealth though, because Jiraiya was so enraptured in his lesson about supposedly unperverted urges. I slid my phone open. One new text message:

_Ur 10/10, rght? Im the tutor. __2:45 in prkng lot_

I squinted my eyes at the text, somewhat annoyed. The annoyance was partly due to the fact that he had shortened my name to "10/10," but mostly because he had been so unspecific. 2:45 in the parking lot? WHERE in the parking lot? The parking lot was huge...

Although he was supposed to be a tutor, I decided not to let it bother me that he disregarded spelling and grammar in the text. I didn't expect anyone other than Sakura to use proper grammar in texts. I glanced up at the clock on the other side of the room. 2:42.

Just then, the bell rang, signifying the end of school. I gathered my things and left Jiraiya's room as quickly as my legs could carry me. I hurried down two flights of stairs and headed towards the nearest exit. The exit would lead to the parking lot in the back of the school.

_Did he mean the parking lot in the front? There's a parking lot by the football field, too..._

The very back of the school was empty by the time I had made it there. I pushed against the heavy double doors and stepped outside, into the back lot of the school.

It was completely empty. Everything was quiet.

Suddenly, from out of the silence, my ears picked up the sound of gentle breathing, almost like snoring. It was coming from around the corner to my right. I narrowed my eyes, as I had heard many stories of naive little freshman playing hookey around corners of buildings, possibly making out with each other and smoking on school grounds.

I decided to surprise them by catching them in the act. Holding my breath and walking on my tiptoes, I glued my back against the brick wall and shimmeyed about a meter to my right, until I was as close to the corner as possible without rounding it. I quietly let out the air I had been holding in my lungs. In my head, I slowly counted to three.

_One..._

_Two..._

_THREE!_

I leaned forward to stick my head around the corner but lost my balance and ultimately ended up stumbling over my own foot. I let out a tiny yelp as I lurched forward, but someone caught me roughly by the forearm before I could fall. He seemed to grumble a little as he pulled me back up using excessive force. I felt myself being hurled toward him, almost crashing into his chest.

I blinked. His eyes were closed. My face was dangerously close to his, and it forced me to take note of his facial features. They were sharp and angular. High cheekbones, lips pursed into a straight line, narrow jaw, a slight widow's peak in his hairline, dark hair tied into a sleek ponytail. His lips were so close to mine that I could feel the warmth radiating from them. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he was leaning casually against the brick wall of the school next to a parked motorcycle, dozing off as if he were a somnolent statue.

He released my arm, but before I could pull away, he suddenly decided to wake up and open his eyes. I stared in awe as two sleepy, half-lidded eyes scrutinized me, mere inches from my face. Slowly, he raised a brow at me in annoyance.

"Troublesome...I was taking a nap," he muttered, eyeing me blankly. Something about him was unusual, and it made me stare mindlessly. So I just stood there, not really noticing how uncomfortably close we were, but just staring at his muddled, sleepy expression.

He frowned at me and yawned. "Hey, mind giving me some personal space?"

* * *

**So...please don't hurt me. XD**

**Yes, it's going to be an AU high school fic. I'm sorry if it's too stereotypical/cliche...but I'm just a cheesy person like that. :P**

**For those of you who truly hated this chapter, please leave constructive criticism in the form of angry, flaming reviews!**

**Thank you for reading.**


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